


Take Us Back

by exyllent



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Basically a Walking Dead AU, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 15:13:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13460898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exyllent/pseuds/exyllent
Summary: "When the higher hills have turned to blue,And the waves are lapping where the children grew.All that we have known will be an echo,Of days when love was true.Muted voices, just beyondThe silent surface of what has gone. "





	Take Us Back

"So, you from 'round here?" The officer asked from behind the glass screen, glancing back at the black haired man in the mirror, "Cause if so, you must've grew up someplace else."

The assumption made Keith chuckle ever so slightly, "That obvious, huh?"

"It's easy to see," the officer replied, shrugging slightly as he continued to look back at Keith in the rear view mirror, "not like we get many texan boys down here."

"I moved up here a few years ago," Keith said, "never been fond of staying in one place for too long."

The officer hummed slightly, "Bet'cha don't. 'Specially not with what you're associated with, eh?"

Keith quickly looked down to his lap, where his bound hands rested, "I... I didn't mean to kill him... I just- I just got mad and then I got scared and-"

"Listen, kid, I know a guilty man when I see one." The officer responded with a small sigh, "And you ain't one of 'em."

Slowly, Keith raised his head and looked at the officer from the mirror, "How comes you believe me...?"

"Been in this profession long enough, kid." The officer said, chuckling slightly, "Reckon I learned a thing or two."

This made Keith laugh, feeling slightly stupid at his question, "Guess so."

There was an oddly comfortable silence in the police car for a few minutes, just the quiet hum of the officer's radio and the soft sound of air from outside the vehicle. Soon, the officer broke the silence and asked the question Keith had been dreading.

"So, you got any family down here?" he asked, looking back at Keith once again in the mirror, "Anyone come down with you?"

Keith let out a soft huff of air at the personal question, but replied nonetheless, "Just my brother. He said he'd meet me at the station. Before I left..."

The officer sighed, "Bet this is hurtin' you a lot more knowing you got someone on the other side."

Letting out a sad laugh, Keith responded, "Like you wouldn't imagine."

"Bet I could." The officer said, giving Keith a friendly smile in the mirror, "Got my kids back at home, I'd do anything for 'em. My little girl, nearly sixteen now, got a habit of lying to me. She'd always tell me she's going out with her friends so she could go to the library."

The officer paused for a moment, laughing before he continued, "Not gonna lie to you kid, that worried me a helluva lot more than her going to read."

Keith smiled slightly, "I was like that as a kid. I always wanted more and more books but..."

The officer nodded in understanding, "You don't gotta say anymore, kid. I get it."

Keith's brows furrowed as he saw a figure in the middle of the road, just... stumbling across. His eyes suddenly widened when he could make out the features of a human, his mouth and brain not quite connecting as he tried to warn the unaware officer of what was about to happen.

As they became mere inches away from the person, Keith cried out, "Move!"

The officer quickly looked back to the road and swerved, a string of expletives leaving his mouth as he turned the wheel and rammed straight into a road block, flipping the car over completely and down a steep hill.

The glass on the car windows shattered on the intense force of the impact, causing Keith to let out a cry and attempt to shield his face from the sharp debris with his bound hands. 

Once the car came to a stop, the smell of blood and ash was heavy in the warm air. Keith slowly opened his eyes, wincing slightly as he felt some blood trickle down his pale cheek and drip onto his shirt. He raised his hands and traced the dark dribble of blood, letting out a soft whimper as his hand brushed over a deep gash on his cheekbone. He let out a slightly hysterical laugh as his immediate thought was about the scar that it would leave.

As he managed to lift his head enough to look up, he tried to spot the officer, "H- hey, Mister Policeman?" he asked, cringing slightly as the hoarseness of his own voice.

He waited a moment before sighing, receiving no response whatsoever. He fumbled around for a moment, before his trembling hands discovered the seatbelt buckle. He clenched his jaw slightly as he twisted his hands to an unnatural angle in order to press the button and release himself.

Once the seatbelt popped out, Keith dropped to the glass-covered ground beneath him, the roof of the car and caved in which caused the shattered glass to only collect in certain areas. Luckily for Keith, he landed on the slightly elevated portion of the roof, meaning his legs were safe from the glass.

He let out a sigh of relief and looked around, seeing the dead driver still in the seat in front of him. He shuddered at the metallic tint to the air before he reached it and grasped the dangling keys from the officer's belt, quickly unlocking his handcuffs and grasping the officers gun in his now free hands. Keith paused for a moment, hating himself deeply about what he was going to do, before he reached into the man's pocket and pulled out an old leather wallet. Shaking his head in shame, he opened it and looked at the I.D. 

Officer Holt, he was only forty-two when he died. 

The dark haired man shuddered before he turned to face the window and raised his leg, kicking the remainder of the glass out of the pane before he crawled out, wincing as he felt stray shards of glass cut into his palms. The vibrations from the front of the car made him jump, but when he realised it was his confiscated phone he quickly shuffled over and grabbed it, answering the incoming call.

"H- hello...?" Keith asked, squeezing his eyes shut as his tight grip on the phone caused the glass to dig further into the fleshy palms on his hands.

"Keith! Thank God, you're okay!" 

"S- Shiro, thank fuck..." he exhaled, 'I- I really need help."

"I bet you do. Guessing you haven't seen the news?" 

Keith paused, "No. I-... The radio was off. Why? What's going on?"

"The world's gone to shit, kiddo. I gotta find you. You near home?"

After glancing around briefly, Keith responded, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm not far. We- we hit something, Shiro... I-... I think it was a person..."

There was silence on the other line for a moment before Shiro spoke, "Keith... You- you really need to get out of there."

"Why..?" he asked quietly, slowing pushing himself up off the ground.

"I... If I'm right about this, that wasn't a person you hit."

Keith's eyes widened as he looked around, "Then what was it?!"

"You need to stay quiet, Keith. At least until I find you."

"How can I stay quiet?! There's a dead cop in a car in front of me and apparently we didn't hit a person!" Keith yelled, his eyes tearing up in frustration. 

"Keith! Get a hold of yourself, I'm coming!"

He squeezed his eyes shut, a tear rolling down his cheek and settling on his jaw, "P- please hurry, Shiro..."

"I will. I'm coming as quick as I can. Should I just look for a hole in the road or what?"

Keith laughed weakly, nodding to himself, "Y- yeah. We- we went though the railing. It's pretty easy to spot."

"Give me five minutes and I'll be there. That cop, they got a gun?"

Keith let out a breath and looked to the pistol in his hand, "Yeah. He did. I took it..."

"Good. I want you to shoot anything that isn't me. Okay?"

"Shiro, what-"

"Keith. I need a yes."

"I... Fine... Okay," he said, "But you know how bad my reflexes are. Might shoot you anyway for being rude."

The man from the other side of the line snorted, "Okay, kiddo. You keep talking like that and I'm gonna leave you alone in the woods with another corpse."

For the first time in days, Keith actually smiled. A happy smile that wasn't forced nor due to hysteria.

"I- I love you, Shiro. Thank you for coming..." he mumbled into the phone. 

"What are big brothers for if not to save your ass from being left to rot in the woods?"

"Just hurry up, asshole." Keith said, rolling his eyes in annoyance but the smile never left his lips.

"Will do."

And with that, the line went dead. Leaving Keith with only the sound of his erratic breathing. 

A few minutes passed and Keith had sat down on a fallen tree trunk, swinging his legs as if he didn't have a car in the world when, in fact, he was practically killing himself with the anxiety in his mind. He tried to follow his brother's old advice, focus on breathing, it's the one thing that'll keep you sane in insane situations. 

Solid advice. Or so Keith had initially thought. 

But when the thoughts of his brother dying in the streets without him, him dying in the woods, his brother finding his body, his breathing was most certainly not at the foremost of his mind.

His head shot up from its downward-facing position as he heard a groan and a shuffle from the car. He quickly lunges forward onto his hands and knees and looked inside as the officer.

"Si- sir, are you okay?" he asked quickly, trying to make out the officer's face in the dull lighting of the woodland.

Before Keith could comprehend what happened, the officer reached out and grabbed Keith's shirt, letting out what Keith could only describe as a growl.

He let out a scream and practically threw himself backwards, out of the officers grip and reach. In response to his scream, a voice yelled from not far away. 

"Keith?! Where are you?!"

Keith let out a sharp breath, indescribably thankful for his brother's well-timed arrival, before he cupped his hands around his mouth, "Shiro! I'm over here!"

Hearing his little brother's voice, Shiro broke into a sprint. His long legs carrying him as fast as they could before he ran into the clearing where the car and his brother were. He let out a breath at the sight of his relatively unharmed brother, running to him and hugging him tightly.

"Shit, Keith... Are you okay?" he asked, carefully lifting Keith from the ground and setting him back on the tree trunk that younger man had previously been on.

"I-... The officer..." he whispered, pointing to the moving corpse in the car, "...not dead..."

Shiro turned, looking to the living corpse, before he turned back to Keith and hugged him tightly, "Told you. The world's gone to shit. Before the news cut out, they called them walkers."

Keith grasped onto Shiro as tight as he could and shook his head, "I-... I don't get any of this... I want to go back to our house..."

Shiro closed his eyes, "Our house isn't safe anymore, Keith. We've gotta leave."

"A- and go where?" Keith asked, pulling back and rubbing his eyes with the unharmed backs of his hands, "We have nothing..."

"I saw two guys on my way out. We could stick with them until we find somewhere to stay." Shiro said, sighing, "And if they don't agree then I'll just shoot them and steal their truck."

Keith eyed the shotgun in his brother's hand, recognising it from their neighbour's gun shelf in his living room, "Are they nice...?"

"No idea. But, I guess there's one way to find out." Shiro said, shrugging before he began walking towards the road again, "We gotta move quick, it's getting late."

***

Once they had arrived back in the town, Shiro seemed to automatically lead them to the men he had seen before. As they approached, the man in a green jacket held up a baseball bat, preparing to swing at Shiro's head.

Shiro quickly spoke, "We're not looking for trouble. We just need to stick with some people."

The man in the yellow shirt who was digging around in the hood of the truck turned and looked at them, "You live around here?"

"Yeah, just a little up the road from here," Shiro responded, "you guys?"

The man with the green jacket pointed to a house just opposite them, "There. We managed to get out. Our roommates... Not so lucky."

The man in the yellow shirt paused his actions, shaking his head before he continued. 

"I'm Shiro. This is my little brother, Keith." He said, extending his free hand for the man in the green jacket to shake. 

"Good to know," he replied, firmly shaking Shiro's hand, "I'm Lance. My friend here's Hunk."

Lance and Keith made eye contact once the introductions were over, a little too long for it to be a platonic encounter. The corner of Lance's mouth twitched up into a smirk and he winked, smirking even more when he saw Keith's eyes widen and his cheeks flush red. 

"You need any help with the truck, Hunk?" Shiro asked, walking to him.

Hunk let out a laugh, "Is it really that obvious I have no idea what I'm doing?"

"Just a little bit." Shiro replied, shrugging, "Don't worry, not many people do."

"And you do?" He asked, looking to the tall man.

"I took mechanics in college for a while," he explained, shrugging slightly as he went to work, "Got bored of it."

As they two men exchanged friendly, light conversation, Lance approached Keith and crossed his arms over his chest, grinning, "So, what's a pretty boy like you doing in a place like this?"

Keith blinked up at him, before slowly pointing at Shiro, "My... my brother brought me. We live here."

"No, I..." Lance chuckled slightly and shook his head, "Forget it."

Keith shifted before the small group fell into a comfortable silence, only the sound of Shiro messing with the car and the quiet wind to fill their ears.

A minute or two passed before Shiro told Hunk to try the truck again, and when the engine roared to life, the men let out small cries of victory. Except Keith, who kept a stoic expression on his face.

"Come on, hop in." Hunk said to them all, "We gotta get out before it gets dark."

Shiro gave him a warm smile as he hopped into the passanger seat, "Thank you, it means a lot you're willing to let us come."

"Well, if you were gonna kill us I think you would've done it by now." He said, shrugging, "Just repaying the favour of you fixing it up."

Before they drove away, Keith and Lance both got into the back of the truck, closing the entrance and leaning against the short sides. Lance gave Keith a friendly smile, purely happy to still be alive, and all Keith could think about was the officer he had left for dead in the car and the officer's children. 

It was going to be a long night.


End file.
